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Letter to the Editor: Sales tax increase for roads is unjust

Posted
Wednesday, October 3, 2018 4:05 pm

It is misguided to have a sales tax to fix roads. There is already a tax assessed for that purpose — the gas tax, in which users pay at the pump. To assess a sales tax to fix our roads is like charging a baker for a lodging tax. It makes no sense and it is not fair.

The gasoline and diesel tax is a user tax, which means that those who drive on the roads and use the services pay the tax, which goes toward the maintenance of our roads and highways.

But the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and other business groups throughout the state do not want to see the cost of diesel and gasoline rise. They want all of us to subsidize their operations with a dedicated sales tax.

It is unjust. A user tax is a fair tax, the way taxes are supposed to be. Those who use the service pay the tax. The gasoline tax has stayed the same for 15 years. Vehicles get much better gas mileage now than they did years ago, so that means less money per mile to repair the roads. It is time to raise the gas tax and forget about a subsidy, oops, I mean sales tax for all.

Michael Johnson

Valverde resident in Denver

Editor’s note: As of July 2018 the gas tax in Colorado is 22 cents per gallon, according to data from the Tax Foundation. This number does not include the federal excise tax on gas, which is 18.4 cents per gallon. More information can be found at https://taxfoundation.org/state-gas-tax-rates-july-2018/

Two people were killed after a woman driving a stolen car crashed into their vehicle at the intersection of Santa Fe Drive and Mineral Avenue in Littleton in the early hours of Feb. 6, according to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office.